"Halt." The new form held up an arm and Amelia could see the glint of a sharp blade in the silver moonlight. "I will not allow this."
A dark, grating laugh echoed through the silence. " You? You will not allow?"
Amelia's rescuer never wavered. "No."
"Do not be more of a fool than you need to be. Return to your books and pathetic studies.
You do not possess the courage nor the will to confront me."
"Shall we see? Shall we test the strength of my dagger? I do not fear you."
Lost in a thick fog of terror, Amelia nevertheless managed to notice that the gentleman now standing between her and the shadow was surprisingly large. Not only tall, but broad through the shoulders and possessing the type of chiseled muscles not often seen in society.
She also realized that his rich, smoky tones held a trace of an accent that was impossible to trace.
Not that she particularly cared if he were a foreigner or not, she acknowledged with a near-hysterical urge to laugh. At the moment she would have welcomed the devil himself if he were here to protect her.
The shadow seemed to swirl, then, with a sudden hiss, it slowly began to retreat toward the nearby stables.
"We will settle this later, fool. I must think how best to punish you for your insolence," the shadow warned before it disappeared entirely.
For a breathless moment there was nothing but the thick silence, then, with a flowing swiftness that was oddly similar to that of the deadly shadow, the gentleman turned and threaded his way through the thick hedge. Amelia regarded him with a sense of lingering shock, not even flinching when he reached out to gently touch her hair.
"Are you harmed?" he demanded in soft tones.
Amelia struggled to breathe as she pressed a hand to her painfully racing heart. "No. I.. what was that thing?"
He seemed to hesitate. "A creature A creature of the dark."
"Creature?" Amelia gave a sudden shudder. Did he mean an animal? No. She had seen what she had seen. That had been something other than human or animal. "What sort of creature'?"
Without warning, he reached out to grasp her arm in a firm grip. "Come, we must not linger here."
Before she even knew what was happening, Amelia discovered herself being tugged away from the hedge and turned back down the alley toward her home. Just for a moment, she allowed herself to follow his lead, wanting nothing more than to be back in the comforting familiarity of her tiny home Then she abruptly dug her bare heels into the dirt.
"Wait. I must find my brother I was following him when that shadow appeared."
His grip tightened, almost as if he considered physically dragging her away from danger. Then he drew in a deep breath.
"Very well, but we must be swift," he said. Without waiting for her approval, the man turned and began searching the high hedges for a sign of her missing brother. He had taken only half a dozen steps when he softly called out, "He is here."
Attempting to still the shaking that still clutched at her body, Amelia moved to stand beside her unknown savior, her gaze searching the hedge until she discovered William happily seated on the filthy ground.
Her brief flare of relief was swiftly replaced by a bout of annoyance. As always, her brother was utterly indifferent to the world, and dangers, about him.
"William, what in heaven's name are you doing?" she demanded in sharp tones.
Glancing upward, her brother offered her that sweet, heart-melting smile that never failed to touch her.
"Cats," he said, pointing at his lap.
Amelia prayed for patience as she noted the numerous kittens that had crawled into a tight ball upon his legs, along with his own stray. Well, she at least now knew where that demon-spawned cat of William's had been disappearing to at night. And precisely what he had been doing during his midnight excursions.
"Cats," William repeated with a wide smile.
"Yes, I see."
"Cats and cats."